Dear Colleagues,

As a cross-pollinated crop, maize breeding techniques can successfully be applied to forage species to increase their genetic gains. However, this has not typically been the case. As the cultivation of maize became more extensive, selected open-pollinated strains were developed in a similar way forage species are being developed today. In the early 1900s, public scientists created the inbred–hybrid concept for maize. The private sector exploited this research idea and inbred lines became the gold mine or confidential secret for hybrid providers.

Forage breeders need to integrate long-term pre-breeding efforts on germplasm adaptation and improvement with cultivar development. Genetic divergence and heterosis have been the source of the population-hybrid maize concept, as semi-hybrids operate in forages. Therefore, decades of population improvement efforts in maize breeding can have a significant impact on forage cultivar development.

One of the targets of this issue is to direct science to help achieve on farm sustainability. Increasing genetic diversity and the exploitation of heterosis are some of the solutions to new environmental regulations. Manuscripts are expected to influence industry to develop the next generation of sustainable cultivars to provide farmers with sustainable market options.

This Special Issue on ‘’Forage Breeding and Genetics’’ aims to maximize the genetic gain of forage species with emphasis on breeding for climate change adaptation with environmental traits, bringing together successful R&D outcomes from other species. We seek papers utilizing population and quantitative genetic principles applied to current breeding programs, particularly those addressing the integration of pre-breeding with cultivar development in sustainability. The focus is on adapting major cross-pollinated crop breeding techniques to improve genetic gain in forage cultivar development.

Dr. Marcelo Carena
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Forage crop genetics and breeding
• genetic diversity
• breeding for sustainability
• genetic improvement of forage crops
• population and quantitative genetics